Skidway



Patented Feb. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Walter W. Williams,Bloomington, Ill.

Application December 4, 1937, Serial No. 178,050

3 Claims.

This invention relates ito-improvements in dispensing apparatus and moreparticularly to the construction of a cabinet for containing packagedliquids, maintaining the packages at a desired temperature anddispensing them one at a time.

It is an object of this invention to construct a cabinet of thischaracter adapted to support a plurality of bottles or cylindricalcontainers, such as milk bottles, so as to be delivered by gravitythrough an outlet at .the bottom intermittently opened and closed bydepositing a coin to free the closure thereof.

With this and other objects in view, reference is made to theaccompanying sheet of drawing which illustrates a preferred form of thisinvention with the understanding that minor changes maybe made withoutdeparting from the scope thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a View of a preferred form of this invention with the coverand upper portion of the cabinet removed, illustrating parts in sectionand parts in plan view.

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section taken on the line 2-2, Figure 1,of the cooling and dispensing portion oi the cabinet.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view in central longitudinal verticalsection of the dispensing closure.

Figure 4 is a view in section taken on the line t-fil of Figure 3.

hi the embodiment of this invention as illustrated, a cylindricalcabinet is preferably divided into an upper section i to form arefrigerated compartment containing the dispensing apparatus and a lowersection 2 to form a compartment to contain any desired type ofrefrigerating apparatus.

Inasmuch as any commercial type of refrigerating apparatus may beemployed and does not form a part of this invention, the refrigerationapparatus is not illustrated and the compartment provided therefor isnot shown in detail, being broken away and indicated by the referencenumeral 2.

The refrigerated compartment I is provided with a spaced-apart innerside wall 3, top wall 4 and bottom wall 5 with the space between theinner and outer walls filled with insulation material 5 as is customaryin refrigerated compartments. The .top of the cabinet is provided with adoor I for the insertion of the bottles or cylindrical containers 8,which door is preferably circular in form, insulated similar to thecabinet walls and may be secured to form an air-tight (on. 1934s)closure, as shown, or in any other desired manner.

It is preferable to support the cylindrical packages 8, illustratedherein as the usual milk bottles used in the commercial distribution ofmilk, upon two equally spaced-apart annular spiral supports 5 or ramps 9and III extending from the inner wall 3 of the compartment I, eachspaced apart from the top a sufiicient distance to allow a bottle to beplaced thereon and each terminating one above the other within atangental housing ll extending from the lower portion of the cabinet.

The pitch of the spiral annular supports or ramps 9 and I0 is such thatas the bottles are removed from the bottom, those thereabove will.descend by gravity It is preferable to mount the 15 annular supports orramps 9 and Ill upon the walls 3 at a slight angle such as 5 to thehorizontal and provide the inner free ends with an upturned flange l2 toengage the neck of the bottle, so that in descending, the bottles willroll upon a two-point contact with the support or ramp, one point ofcontact being the bottom of the bottle and the other the neck of thebottle,

as shown.

It is preferable to arrange cooling coils l3 and it from therefrigerating apparatus upon the under sides of supports or ramps 9 andit and secured thereto in any desired manner. The central cylindricalspace surrounded by the annular supports or ramps 9 and it may beemployed for precooling the bottles later to be placed upon dispensingspirals and may, if desired, be separated therefrom by a cylindricalspacer H5.

The housing Ii rotatably mounts a cylindrical dispensing closure closedat each end by circular plates l6 and Il and its cylindrical wallsprovided with a plurality of longitudinal spaced-apart clepressionsforming pockets N3 of suflicient size to receive and completely containa bottle or cylindrical package to be dispensed. In the embodi- 40 mentillustrated, four of such pockets l8 are shown in Figures 2 and 4. Theend plates l6 and H are secured upon an axial shaft I9 rotatably mountedin the sides of the housing II to support the dispensing closure withthe bottom of one pocket E8 in line with the lower annular dispensingspiral I0 when another pocket i8 is in position to receive a bottle fromthe upper annular dispensing spiral 9, as shown in Figure 2. The bottomof the housing II is formed with a front wall 20 embracing thecylindrical dispensing closure and is provided with an opening 2| toregister with a pocket (8 to allow a bottle contained therein to passout of the housing. The housing I l is provided with a rear wall 22which is a con- 56 tinuation of the inner bottom wall of therefrigerated compartment I to embrace the cylindrical dispensing closureto the rear of the opening 2I and is then extended in a downward curvedportion 23 over which the bottle 8 discharged from the pocket I8 throughthe opening 2I will roll to engage a stop 24 under the front of thehousing II and spaced apart from wall 20 to form an opening 25 throughwhich the bottle may be easily removed.

The shaft I9 of the cylindrical dispensing closure of the housing IIpasses through the outer wall thereof and through a casing 28 carriedthereby' to mount an operating handle 21 upon its exterior end. Thecasing 26 contains any desired form of coin-controlled apparatus adaptedupon the insertion of a coin in the slot 28 to free the shaft I9 toallow the handle 21 to be operated to bring the next adjacent pocket I8in alignment with the opening 2I to dispense or discharge the bottlecontained therein. Such coin-controlled apparatus is a commercialarticle and forms no part of this invention and therefore is notillustrated in detail.

When the cabinet is filled, the first bottle placed upon the lowerannular dispensing spiral III, will roll down thereon and enter a pocketI8 in the cylindrical dispensing closure, as indicated by A in Figure 2,and will act as a stop for the other bottles supported upon that spiralor ramp ID. The first bottle placed upon the upper annular dispensingspiral 9 will roll down thereon and enter this pocket I8 in position toreceive it in the cylindrical dispensing closure, as indicated B inFigure 2, and the other bottles on that spiral will be supportedthereon, as shown in Figure 2.

Upon the first operation of the handle 21, the bottle A will bedispensed and the cylindrical walls of the dispensing closure will holdthe bot- 40 ties on both spirals 9 and I0 until bottle B assumes theposition of the former bottle A, allowing the next bottle in the upperspiral 9 to enter this pocket I8 and assume the position of the formerbottle B. Successive operations of the 45 handle 21 will repeat theabove described movements until all of the bottles in the upper spiral 8have been dispensed and then the bottles in this lower spiral I0 will beallowed to enter the cylindrical dispensing closure and be dispensed.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for supporting and advancing by gravity to adischarge portion thereof containers of a type having a reduced neckextending from a main body portion thereof and an enlarged head on saidneck, a spiral ramp mounted on said apparatus, said ramp having a flangealong the inner peripheral edge, the neck of each of said containersresting on the top of said flange and the head extending from said neckengaging the side of said flange to prevent endwisedisplacement of saidcontainer.

2. In an apparatus for supporting and advancing by gravity to adischarge portion thereof containers of a type having a reduced neckextending from a main body portion thereofand an enlarged head on saidneck, a spiral ramp of greater width than the combined lengths of saidneck and main body portion, said ramp being inclined radially outwardlyand downwardly and having a flange along the inner peripheral edge, theneck of each of said containers resting on the top of said flange andthe head extending from said neck engaging the side of said flange toprevent endwise displacement of said container in the direction ofinclination of said ramp.

3. In an apparatus for supporting and advancing by gravity to adischarge portion thereof containers of a type having a reduced neckextending from a main body portion thereof and an enlarged head on saidneck, a spiral ramp mounted on and having one edge engaging an innerwall of said apparatus, said ramp being inclined toward said inner walland being of greater width than the combined lengths of said neck andmain body portions of said containers, and a flange on the free edge ofsaid ramp, the neck of each of said containers resting on the top I ofsaid flange and the head extending from said neck engaging the side ofsaid flange to prevent endwise displacement of said container towardsaid wall and to maintain a spaced relation there between.

WALTER W. WILLIAMS.

